For the fourth consecutive day, the number of new coronavirus cases in Dallas County exceeded 300 on Saturday as officials also confirmed 3 additional deaths.
The county added 345 new cases of the coronavirus bringing the total to 13,930 confirmed cases and 283 deaths. More than 8,200 people are said to have recovered, according to the Department of State Health Services.
The three deaths reported include an Irving man his in 50s with underlying high-risk health conditions, a Seagoville man in his 60s who lived at a long-term care facility and a Mesquite woman in her 90s who lived at a long-term care facility and had high-risk health conditions.
More than a third of deaths have been associated with long-term care facilities, according to the county.
County Judge Clay Jenkins said increased testing weighs into the higher numbers, but that the state and county are also at the highest point that they have been in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
"Think of hospitalizations as the tip of the iceberg. There is much more ice under the water out of the hospital and that portion of the iceberg is growing as more and more people get infected from one another," Jenkins said. "All this tells us that it’s so important that we focus on our health. There are other important things to focus on but we cannot take our focus off our health."
Hospitalizations along with ICU admissions and ER visits are three indicators that local health officials use to determine the county's COVID-19 risk level. Dallas County is under the "Stay Home, Stay Safe" level, which indicates a high community risk for transmission.
Of the cases requiring hospitalization where employment was reported, more than 80% have been critical infrastructure workers, including people in healthcare, transportation, food, agriculture and first responders. More than two thirds of people hospitalized have been under 65 and about half do not have any high-risk chronic health conditions.
Adjusted for age, rates of COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients have been highest among the Hispanic population — 667.4 cases per 100,000 people, and 60% of overall COVID-19 cases to date, according to the county.
The Asian population accounted for 187.4 per 100,000 cases, Black residents for 136.4 per 100,000 and white residents for 43.8 per 100,000.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
